"Heroes" had one of the most promising starts in television history. It provided primetime television with elaborate superhero plots and a terrific cast. However, that was season one. Ever since then, the show has spiraled downhill. Still, I am a tremendously big fan of superhero/villain television and cinema so I while I can fault the methodologies, I cannot deny that I still find it entertaining, albeit exhausting.

When season two kicked off it was rather promising. However, as the writers' strike set in the show rushed the entire season arc into a half a season worth of episodes. It finished way too fast and was almost like the writers were planning on the cancelation of the show. Now, season three doesn't offer anything much better. The show wavers from being rushed to being too slow. The plots are simply ridiculous. The show needs fresh life.

A lot of the individual plots are loosely tied to something that happened in seasons one or two. Still, the same plot of the end of the world is tiresome. The only thing that changes is who will stop the destruction this time around. Characters flip flop from good to bad and back to good throughout the season that it is too hard to keep track. And then in the end, it is uncertain whether the character is good or bad.

In season three we find Hiro without powers, but his find Ando with lab-grown powers. Claire is still rebellious, wanting to save the world herself. Mr. Bennett is apparently working for Nathan, who is now working with the government to detain all super beings. The list goes on and on. The characters convictions are extremely weak in this season.

New characters come to the screen this season such as Daphne, a speed demon and the future love of Matt Parkman. Matt Parkman's ex-wife comes back for a couple episodes. Danko is the new villain, plotting to surpass Nathan and take over the detaining of super beings his own way. It wouldn't be "Heroes" without Sylar. He is struggling to maintain his identity. Niki Sanders is a third person now. Her character is far from being pivotal to the series. It seems that after numerous complaints as to what happened to Niki and who this Niki look a like is, the writers felt compelled to through in an episode semi-explaining how Niki was lab-infected as a newborn, along with Nathan. Like I've said, the season is confusing. There is no clear line to follow as to what the season is trying to accomplish. It seems like the writers are in their own little world dreaming stuff up that only makes sense to themselves and no one else..

I could rant on and on about this season, but in the end there are still some entertaining things to watch. Claire is still adorable. Sylar's storylines have some interesting moments, as does Matt Parkman, his ex-wife and Daphne. Hiro's role in this season is rather pathetic, but again he has his moments.

"Heroes" most definitely peaked at season one. Season two could have
been strong if not for the strike. But season three is just simply
bad. Unless the creators get some new minds in there, I can't really
see this show surviving.

The third season of "Heroes" comes to blu-ray with an MPEG-4 AVC encode
and a broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1. When properly aired by the
broadcaster in high-definition (which is a rare occurrence) "Heroes"
looked fairly good. Sadly, the Blu-ray doesn't offer anything more
than the HD broadcast. While the rating is the same as the first
season of the show on Blu-ray, it is a bit better than the unwieldy
nature of the first two seasons on Blu-ray. Still, it is not enough of
an improvement to rate higher. Blacks levels are still consistently
crushed. Shadow delineation is pathetic and details waver from
excellent to below poor. Fleshtones are nearly always inaccurate,
always flushed. The contrast is overblown on many occasions. Whites
burn far too hot. As with the previous seasons, source noise is
resounding. Still, it must be said that the artifacting problems of
the first two seasons is not as evident in this third season. Banding
is still present but not as flagrant. Edge enhancement is also still
present, but also not as prominent. Avid HD watchers will still notice
it glaring at them throughout the season. The season's Blu-ray
transfer is technically adequate, but it could have used more
post-production treatment. Much of it is left over from the quick
timeframe that is necessary to turn out these episodes for broadcast.
While it is not "Lost" picture quality, it still has a certain HD
attraction.

The audio is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 and is on par with the previous
seasons of "Heroes" on Blu-ray. The dialogue is intelligible, but can
sometimes get lost amongst the bass. The LFE is certainly the
highlight of this audio track. Everything is full of bottom end.
While I love bass, the bass sometimes becomes a bit overwhelming for
the content on the screen. A balance between audio and video must be
preserved. However, this audio track starts to steer away from that
balance. The music score is prominent throughout and is also sometimes
over powering. The rear channels are engaging for the most part.
However, when the rear channels dissipate, they truly leave the scene.
Once again, a balance needs to be preserved. While dynamic range is
good, directionality is hardly accurate, nor is the panning. Again,
the timeframe in which this episodes get ready for broadcast is quick
so it is hard to fault the transfer for these issues. However, the
audio could have been redone for the Blu-ray release.

While the season itself may be lacking, the special features are quite
full. There is more content in the bonus section than most anyone will
ever care to get through. Nearly all the content is presented in high
definition. Most impressive is that the boxset comes with 25
picture-in-picture commentaries. All 25 episodes contain commentaries
by most all of the show's creative talent. There really isn't much to
watch in the picture-in-picture, but the stories can sometimes be
entertaining. This is a great feature for true fans of the show. Also
part of the U-Control section is the "Hero Connections – Bios." This
feature tries to tie together the threads of the all the different
characters.

"Building Coyote Sands" shows the creation of the internment camp and
shows the shooting of the 1961 episode. "The Super Power of 'Heroes'"
is a lame attempt at covering the stunts of "Heroes." "Completing the
Scene" examines the visual effects department. "Genetics of a Scene"
is a terrific segment that examines four of season three's scenes.
"The Writers' Forum" is a discussion between creator Tim Kring and the
writers. "The Prop Box" is simply a tour of the show's props. "Time
Sale Gallery of Screen Art" is virtually less than a minute long.
"Alternate Stories" is an in-depth look at some of the storylines left
out of the show. "Pinehearst Commercial" is a cheesy segment. The
last hi-def featurette is "Hero Connections Network" is a feature that
introduces you to the characters. These introductions are fairly
useless all around.

The Blu-ray release also comes with standard definition deleted
scenes. The package also contains D-Box Motion Control, BD-Live
functionality and My Scenes. Finally, there is a sneak of season four.

"Heroes" season three is pretty much a dud. I do think that the 1961
episode is very interesting, but stuff like that is too few and far
between during the course of this 25-episode season. The video quality
is not much better than the HD broadcast and the audio quality is boomy
to say the least. If you caught all the episodes when they aired then
you probably don't need this boxset, except for the fantastic bonus
materials. But you are diehard fan of the show then by all means, this
package is for you.